On a price basis, VXX is down more than 75% this year, while UVXY and TVIX are down by 95%-96%.

A handful of other volatility-themed products have performed better due to their very different index construction.

The Barclays S&P 500 Dynamic Vector ETN (VQT), a complex mix of stocks and volatility futures that’s up a little more than 4% this year, has enjoyed $187 million in inflows, or more than half its $353 million in assets. The iPath S&P 500 Dynamic VIX ETN (XVZ), down 8.8% on the year, holds $318 million, more than half of which also showed up this year.

The VelocityShares Daily Inverse VIX ETN (XIV), a kind of backdoor bullish bet on the stock market that’s up 171% this year, has seen investors pull out $458 million this year, leaving it holding $275 million.

Correction 5:12 p.m.: This post initially said the products “burnt through more than twice as much money” as investors currently hold in them. The figures are $4.5 billion versus $1.9 billion. That’s once over and then some. Not “more than twice.”

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OCTOBER 8, 2012 4:36 P.M.

curious skeptical investor wrote:

The question I would have is where did the other half of the fund inflows go ?? As i would assume that most of the options expired out of the money... let me guess the investment bank who created the fund..i.e Credit Suisse..what a scam !

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